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Symptoms and Causes of Food Poisoning

Food poisoning is mainly called a foodborne illness. Food poisoning occurs due to contaminated food and spoiled food. Infectious organisms including viruses, parasites or their toxins, bacteria, such as salmonella or Escherichia coli (E. coli), or a virus, such as the norovirus are generally the causes of food poisoning. Contamination of food can occur at home if the food is not cooked or handled properly. Food can contaminate while production or processing by the infectious organisms or their toxins. Food poisoning can occur after few hours of eating contaminated food; it often includes vomiting, nausea or diarrhea. In most of the cases, food poisoning is easy going and resolves without treatment. But don’t take it lightly because in some cases, patients need to be get hospitalized.

Symptoms of Food Poisoning

Food poisoning symptoms may begin after few hours of eating the contaminated food, or even they may begin days or a few weeks later. The most common symptoms of food poisoning include:

(a) Vomiting

(b) Nausea

(c) Diarrhea

(d) Weakness

(e) Abdominal pain and stomach cramps

(f) High-end fever

Causes of Food Poisoning

The contamination of food can occur at any point of processing or production by the infectious organisms or their toxins. These infectious organisms can infect raw food, ready-to-eat food such as salads or other produce, because these foods aren’t cooked and the harmful organisms aren’t destroyed before eating. So, this can lead to food poisoning. In maximum cases, the patients get recovered by their own but in some cases where the cause is found, it’s usually one of the following:

(a) Salmonella

(b) Norovirus

(c) Escherichia coli (E. coli)

(d) Clostridium Perfringens

(e) Campylobacter

(f) Listeria

(g) Staphylococcus aureus

(h) Vibrio vulnificus

Who is at Risk?

If someone has eaten contaminated or spoiled food the risk factor of food poisoning depends on the organism, the amount of exposure, health and the age. The risk of having food poisoning also depends on that how the immune system responds to the contaminated food. The high-risk groups include:

(a) Infants & Kids

(b) Pregnant Women

(c) Old age people

(d) People with chronic disease

(e) Weak immune system

It is good to consult your doctor in case of any serious casualty due to food poisoning. Follow the steps to cure & prevent food poisoning as directed by doctor.